Locking-clothespin



W. R. DERR.

LOCKING CLOTHESPIN.

APPLICATION man mus 1.1919.

Patented May 18, 1920.

A TTORNE 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. DEER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM J.

LILLIE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LOCKING-CLOTHESPIN.

Application filed June 7, 1919.

y invention relates to clothes lines for supporting clothes so that they may be dried in exposed positions in the open air, and particularly to clothes supporting devices provided with means for and which are adapted to lock the clothes upon the clothes line in a secure and positive manner; to thereby prevent unauthorized persons from removing the clothes from the supporting device, as frequently happens when persons other than the owner have access to the house top, lot, yard or other space where the clothes are hung out in the open air to dry.

' My invention is particularly adapted for use upon. the roofs or area ways of apart ment houses, as it provides a clothes hanging device wherein and by the use of which each individual occupant is enabled to hang out his clothes after washing, and to lock them securely upon a line while and until they become dry by exposure to the atmoshere. p The object of my invention is to provide an improved clothes supporting and looking device of the type above referred to and in which a plurality of pairs of spring closed clasping jaws are employed to hold the clothes upon the clothes line, which is entirely separate from the holding and locking elements; the invention to which this present application relates being an improvement upon the clothes supporting and locking device for which Letters Patent was granted to me upon August 13, 1918, No. 1,275,538, as well also as an improvement upon the similar device of which .I was a joint inventor, and for which Letters Patent No. 1,265,436 was granted upon May 7th, 1918. The end in view in making this pres- 'ent invention was to provide a more simple and secure locking device, and one which could be manufactured, installed, and kept Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1920.

Serial No. 302,427.

in proper operation with less attention than is the case in the device to which the patents above referred to relate.

Further objects of my invention as disclosed'herein are to provide various improvements in and relating to the clasping portions or elements of my device, which are the parts immediately concerned with the clasping and locking of the clothes upon the clothes line, the latter being an element separate and distinct from the elements which codperate to perform the looking function; to provide various features of improvement in and relating to the locking elements and mechanism whereby the clasping jaws of the locking members are locked closed; and to otherwise improve upon and enhance the general efficiency of locking clothes supporting devices of the general class or, type to which my invention relates.

My improved clothes supporting and locking device is illustrated in its preferred form in the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification; although it will be appreciated the embodiment thereof illustrated may be modified in various ways, and that my invention includes all such variations and modifications of the particular embodiment thereof illustrated and herein described as come within the scope of the concluding claims wherein the features wherein my invention consists are particularly pointed out.

In the drawing accompanying and formin a part of this specification:

' *igure 1 is a view showing my improved clothes supporting and locking device installed and in use;

Fig. 2 is a view showing one of the clasping members of my device in side elevation, together with the locking elements cooperating therewith to look its jaws closed;

Fig. 3 is a view showing a section taken upon a vertical transverse plane indicated by the line 33, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view showing a section upon a plane indicated by the line 4 4E, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 ma view showin a section upon a horizontal plane indicated by the line 55, Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a detail of my invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the reference numerals 7, 8 designate two upright end posts or equivalent supports to which the ends of a clothes line 9 are secured; and 10 designates a suitable supporting member extending parallel with and located adjacent the clothes line 9, so that clothes hung upon the line may be locked thereupon by clothes pins carried by the supporting member and comprising pairs of cooperating spring closed clasping jaws adapted to engage the clothes as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The clothes pins or clasping members which are secured to the support 10 and spaced along the same are designated each by the reference numeral 11 in Fig. 1, and the particular construction of said clothes pins is shown in Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive.

Each clothes pin 11 comprises a pair of cotiperating clasping jaws 12, 13 pivotally connected together by a pin 14 extending through their overlapping sides and having serrated clothes engaging lower ends 15 which engage the clothes and hold them securely upon the clothes line; said jaws being channel shaped in cross section and arranged one within the other with their side walls 16, 17 close together and overlapping one another throughout their entire length; thus providing a hollow box like structure having double side and end walls overlapping one another throughout the greater part of their areas when the pin is closed and locked, and a structure of inordinate strength and security as it is difficut and indeed practically impossible to insert a tool such, for example, as a screw driver, between the jaws of the clothes pin at any point or place and pry them apart.

One of the jaws of each clothes'pin 11 is secured to the support 10, as by means of rivets 18, and a fiat or-leaf spring 19 is arranged within the space inclosed by the jaws and secured to one of them and acts to close them; this spring arrangement permitting the jaws to be assembled with a minimum of effort, as it is only necessary to press the jaw not having the spring into the interior of the jaw which carries the spring, and which is secured to the support 10, and then insert the pin or rivet l t through the holes provided for it in the side walls of the clasping jaws.

The side walls 16, 17 of the clasping jaws are provided with openings 20, 21 adjacent their upper ends and which openings are arranged in line and so as to register with one another; and a plurality of tapering cone shape locking members or wedges 22, one for each clothes pin, are adapted to move into the openings aforesaid as shown in Figs. 1 and 1, to thereby prevent the said jaws being opened or, as otherwise expressed, to lock the clothes pins closed. These locking members are connected together so that they may be operated in unison by means of a pivotally supported lever 23, and a pin 24: extends through a hole in the upright whereby the lever is carried and a hole in the lever, as best shown in Fig. 6, when the lever is in a position such that the locking wedges 22 are within the openings in the side walls of the pins and the pins thus locked closed. The pin 24: is itself locked in place by a padlock 25 the hasp of which extends through a hole 26 in the said pin.

Other locking wedges 27 are arranged ad jacent and reversely relative to the locking wedges 22, so that when the pins are locked if the operating rod or connection whereby the locking members 22 are connected together and moved into locking relation with the pins should be cut or broken at any point, then the spring 28 will move such of the wedges 27 as are left free to move by the cutting or breaking into the other openings in the side walls of the clasping jaws, thus re-locking the pins affected, all as explained in my prior patent hereinbefore referred to.

The several locking members 22, 27 have interiorly threaded openings, and they are connected together so that all will move in unison by alternate short and long threaded rods 29, 30; thereby providing a locking element or member the wedges of which may be adjusted properly relative to the clothes pins with which they are to cooperate. Lock nuts 31 which lie in recesses provided in the larger ends of the locking wedges are provided for securing the said wedges in the positions into which they may be adjusted. 1

The openings in the said walls of the clasping jaws into which the locking members 22, 27 enter are preferably U-shaped or open sided, in order that the wedges and connecting rods for a given installation may be assembled and put in place within the openings in the jaws which are secured to the supporting member 10 before the other jaws are assembled and secured in place by the pins 1 1; the open sided or open ended recesses which collectively form the openings into which the locking wedges enter, in connection with the fiat leaf form of springs for closing the pins, both providing for and facilitating such a method of assembling the parts and installing the device, as will be appreciated.

Having thus described and explained my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a clothes locking device of the class described, a suitable support; a plurality of clothes pins each comprising two cooperating clasping jaws one of which is se cured to said support, and which jaws are pivotally connected together; a spring acting to close said jaws; locking wedges adapted to lock said jaws closed; means whereby said locking wedges may be adjusted relative to one another; and means for operating said locking wedges in unison.

2. In a clothes locking device of the class described, a suitable support; a plurality of clothes pins each comprising two cooperating clasping jaws one of which is secured to said support, and which jaws are pivotally connected together; a spring acting to close said jaws; locking wedges adapted to enter the openings aforesaid and having each a threaded passage; threaded rods whereby said locking wedges are adjustably connected with one another; and means for moving said locking wedges in unison into the openings aforesaid to thereby lock said clothes pins closed.

3. In a clothes locking device of the class described, a suitable support; a plurality of clothes pins each comprising two cooperating clasping jaws one of which is secured to said support, and which aws are pivotally connected together; a spring acting to close said jaws; a plurality of looking wedges adapted to lock said jaws in their closed condition, and which wedges are provided each with a threaded passage; threaded rods whereby said locking wedges are adj ustably connected with one another; and means for moving said locking wedges in unison into locking engagement with said jaws to thereby lock said clothes pins closed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification this 31 day of May, 1919.

WILLIAM R. DERR. 

